So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.

So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.

You aren't going to like my suggestion, but you asked... Submit to your parents and keep a good relationship with them. That is far more important in the long run than keeping an ant right now. Especially since you may be moving out within the next few years, and then you can do whatever you want regarding ants.

Proverbs 6:6-8

Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

Another option is to contact local schools and see if they would be interested in having an ant farm (the proper non-gel kind). If you can get to and from the schools in question without screwing up your normal day to day schedule, you can also volunteer to help care for the colony.
If a school agrees, then you start conversations about space, formicarium and out world space, educational purposes/material, etc.
Might also try for a public library.

Your parents don’t want you to keep a Queen Ant because they imagine hundreds or thousands of tiny ants crawling around the house breeding and getting into their food. They also probably don’t realize that you can keep the colony in a test tube inside a container for over a year.

If you can explain to your parents that your queen is the only ant that lays eggs and none of her babies are able to reproduce by themselves. That it takes years for a colony to grow large. And that the workers won’t be crawling around the house looking for food because one they will be in an enclosure and two you feed them regularly so they have no reason to leave their enclosure for food.

Perhaps you can show them some test tube colonies from YouTube where they have a small set up that is clean and organized your parents will see it’s not such a big deal.

I agree with idahoantgirl, your relationship to your parents is much more important than keeping a queen, but if you can convince them to let you keep her, do it. I had this problem recently, my mom wouldn't let me keep a queen I found, but after showing her that all it is for the first month or two is a test tube, water, and some cotton, she let me. Really the only bad thing about it that your parents would complain about is the possibility of infestation (which, if you are ready to take on antkeeping, you won't have a problem with). Showing your parents a test tube setup and formicarium should impress upon them how secure the ants actually are.

So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.

Watch AntsCanada's video called "Why an Antfarm? A Message for the Parents". It lists some good reasons of why keeping ants is great. If they still say no, then yeah, being honest is best, and either release them or give them away. You could also join the GAN project.

"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25

So, my parents know of how much I love ants. While I was helping my dad shovel gravel, I came across the same queen twice. The second time though, I could notice how lost and how much she needed some help. I made a makeshift test tube type setup, and gave her a box for darkness in our barn which no one goes into.

The only problem is, My parent's dont want me to keep ants, I'm 18 this year and we even live on a farm but they're against the idea. Right now, I can keep care of her till she has her first workers, but if I don't find somewhere she can be that I can keep care of her still without my parents knowing or find someone else who can care for her. I will have to let her go with her workers in hope that she makes a home for herself quickly, since Autumn is creeping around the corner. She is a late flyer, she looks healthy and honestly I've fallen in love with her already.

Can I get some help? Suggestions and everything would be the best. Thank you.

And, if it's big, about an inch long, it's Camponotus. If it's super tiny, then it's Tapinoma or Monomorium.

"God made every kind of wild beasts and every kind of livestock and every kind of creeping things;" (including ants) "and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:25